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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

Words on the sheet
468
Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: cell · spell · mine · season · bay · bat · face · cold

  1. My mare is ________________ in color.
  2. Sooner or later you'll have to ________________ the truth.
  3. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  4. Our bedroom windows ________________ the sea.
  5. How do you ________________ your surname?
  6. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  7. Spring is a pleasant ________________.
  8. Tom didn't even ________________ an eye.
  9. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  10. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  11. The ________________ was stolen yesterday, along with the balls.
  12. Did you ________________ the meat?
  13. I met an old friend of ________________ the other day.
  14. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  15. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  16. She's sitting on a gold ________________.
  17. He was blown up by a land ________________.
  18. He was locked up in a ________________.
  19. The ________________ hangs upside down in the cave.
  20. She had a strange look on her ________________.
  21. The water is too ________________.
  22. Close the lid of the trash can to keep odors and pests at ________________.
  23. The sailing ship dropped anchor in the ________________.
  24. They retained the League and Cup in his second ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bay — a horse colour
  2. face — to confront
  3. cold — the Cold War
  4. face — to point toward
  5. spell — letters
  6. cell — a phone
  7. season — of the year
  8. bat — in an idiom
  9. spell — a short time
  10. cell — in biology
  11. bat — for baseball
  12. season — to add flavour
  13. mine — belonging to me
  14. spell — magic
  15. cold — an illness
  16. mine — for digging
  17. mine — an explosive
  18. cell — in a prison
  19. bat — the animal
  20. face — part of the head
  21. cold — not warm
  22. bay — to keep at bay
  23. bay — a part of the sea
  24. season — in sport

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com